title: Virulence factors and genetic variability of uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from dogs and cats in Italy.
abstract: In this study, the association between virulence genotypes and phylogenetic groups among Escherichia (E.) coli isolates obtained from pet dogs and cats with cystitis was detected, and fingerprinting methods were used to explore the relationship among strains. Forty uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) isolated from dogs (n = 30) and cats (n = 10) in Italy were analysed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of virulence factors and their classification into phylogenetic groups. The same strains were characterized by repetitive extragenic palindromic (REP)- and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR techniques. We found a high number of virulence factors such as fimbriae A, S fimbriae (sfa) and cytotoxic necrotizing factor 1 (cnf1) significantly associated with phylogenetic group B2. We demonstrated a high correlation between α-hemolysin A and pyelonephritis C, sfa, and cnf1 operons, confirming the presence of pathogenicity islands in these strains. In addition, UPEC belonging to group B2 harboured a greater number of virulence factors than strains from phylogenetic groups A, B1, and D. REP- and ERIC-PCR grouped the UPEC isolates into two major clusters, the former grouping E. coli strains belonging to phylogenetic group B2 and D, the latter grouping those belonging to groups A and B1. Given the significant genetic variability among the UPEC strains found in our study, it can be hypothesized that no specific genotype is responsible for cystitis in cats or dogs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animals Production, Epidemiology and Ecology, University of Turin, Via Leonardo da Vinci, 44, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy.
authors.forename: Clara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tramuta
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nucera
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Robino
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salvarani
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nebbia
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000032:analysis; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D002415:Cats; D003556:Cystitis / Q000382:microbiology*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D004285:Dogs; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D009876:Operon; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011704:Pyelonephritis / Q000382:microbiology*; D056689:Uropathogenic Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; C036507:Hlya protein, E coli; D037521:Virulence Factors; C060296:cytotoxic necrotizing factor type 1